Rubbed Raw
by SnowyCrocus
Summary: The day after The Great Thaw, all Kristoff has seen of Elsa is her freezing the kingdom and then killing her sister. Sure, he sees sisterly love in both of them at the end, but is that enough to erase his first impression?


_The day after The Great Thaw, what would Kristoff think of Elsa? Up until this point all he's seen of her is freezing the entire kingdom and then killing her sister. Sure, he sees sisterly love in both of them at the end, but is that enough to erase his first impression?_

Set one day after The Great Thaw…

* * *

He didn't mean to intrude – he was simply trying to help, he hadn't known what he would find.

But something had clattered to the floor, the sound of something shattering behind the closed door, followed by a little anguished moan.

A sharp hiss of pain behind clenched teeth. The tinkle of glass as it was stepped on. Listening carefully, Kristoff figured the Princess wouldn't mind if he were a few minutes late to their rendezvous (she would probably be a few minutes late herself), and opened the door.

Something had broken, clearly, and someone was hurt.

And that someone was - "Y-your majesty?"

The queen's eyebrows shot up, eyes wide in surprise at the intruder. "Mr. Bjorg" – she squinted, remembering. "Bjorgman, was it?"

"Yes, your majesty," Kristoff responded, bowing awkwardly. Though his head was down, his gaze caught the fluttering of a trail of white fabric from behind the queen's skirts. As he stood again, he realized her hands were still clasped behind her back.

His eyes trailed around the room once he had risen. They were in a small room set far back from the more frequented halls of the castle. Nearly empty save for a small desk, chair, and bookcase, there was what had probably been a small glass jar now in shards on the floor. A medicinal-smelling poultice sat in a heap in the middle.

Elsa clenched her jaw, averting her eyes from Kristoff and turned to speak to the wall. "I'm sure Anna is waiting to see you after the events of yesterday. You should go to her. I believe she said she would be seeing you in the library."

Kristoff noticed the gloves thrown on the desk, looking as if they had been hurriedly torn off by the fingers. Her majesty's hands remained clamped together behind her. A slight chilled breeze beginning to stir roused the white fabric once more, allowing Kristoff to realize what it was – a bandage.

"Your Majesty, are you alright? Let me at least help you clean this up." Kristoff bent down to gather the pieces of glass.

"No, no please – just go. Find Anna." Elsa went to shoo Kristoff from the mess, realizing too late that she had revealed one of her arms in the process. White strips of bandages clung to her wrists. She whimpered, pulling her arms back to hide behind her, but both knew it was too late.

"What happened?!" Kristoff made to grab her arm, completely forgetting the status difference between them. After the events of yesterday, he knew to be cautious around the queen, seeing as what she had done to Anna. But after so many years out on the ice, his instincts to help someone injured kicked in.

Elsa backed herself up against the wall. "Nothing. Please leave me be."

Kristoff bit back a chuckle. Did the sisters realize how similar they were in their obstinance?

"You're not alright. Please. I won't tell Anna. I won't tell anyone." His eyes softened up at her. "Just let me help you."

Elsa sized him up, deciding. "Alright." Her shoulders, tensed nearly up to her ears, dropped as she sighed. "I suppose you've seen by now anyway."

She brought her hands out from behind her back. She very gingerly began to unwrap the bandages from her wrists that had already begun to unravel. She breathed in sharply from her nose as the last bit was peeled off, sticking to her skin.

Her wrists had been rubbed raw, Kristoff saw. The skin had chafed, leaving bright pink patches and peeling skin at the edges. Elsa's eyes were closed, her teeth biting her lower lip as she waited for a reaction.

"How…?" Kristoff couldn't find the words. "How did this happen?"

Elsa shook her head, sparkling droplets beginning to form at the corners of her eyes.

"Elsa." It was clearly no use using titles with her in this state. After what he had been through yesterday he figured he was at least allowed a small bit of informality in such a private moment.

She swallowed. "-cuffs."

"What?"

"Handcuffs," she bit out. "After you left at the- the palace of ice. "Hans- he- I was-" her voice faltered as the temperature in the room dropped. She looked to the wall once more, struggling. "I was in the dungeons," she whispered.

Suddenly her hands were around his own, nails biting into his skin. "No one can know," she said, desperately. "No one. Not Anna. Never Anna." She pulled back, holding in a whine as her grasp on him pulled on her wounds.

Kristoff let out a long breath through his nose, his heart falling heavy in his chest. He had assumed, yesterday, that Elsa had simply descended from the mountain after the sisters' confrontation. But this…

Well.

Could he say that he would have acted differently, if he had had handcuffs to restrain her magic? After seeing the shimmering beams of light ricochet throughout the ice palace walls? After feeling the deep, unnatural chill in his bones as her magic fired through the air? After hearing Anna's grunt of pain as the ice pierced her heart, after watching her stumble and fall to her knees, after watching her hair turn white, after seeing the veins of ice slowing freezing underneath her skin?

Perhaps not.


End file.
